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The Book of the Diner is well worth preserving. I only wish it had reached a broader audience when it might have mattered more. That is a testament to the blindness of our culture. If there is a future to look back from, one difficult question historians will have to ask is how we let this happen, when so many saw it coming. This site has certainly aggregated enough information and critical thinking to prove that.[/b]

Drinking Alcohol Tied to Long Life in New Study[Newsweek]Melissa Matthews,Newsweek•February 20, 2018

Drinking could help you live longer—that's the good news for happy-hour enthusiasts from a study presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting last week. According to the study, people who live to 90 years of age or older often drink moderately.

Related: Want to Live to 100? Centenarian Credits Two Whiskeys a Day for His Longevity2_20_2017_Beer2_20_2017_Beer

New research indicates that drinking two glasses of beer per day could help you live longer. GULSHAN KHAN/AFP/Getty Images

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Neurologist Claudia Kawas and her team at the University of California have been studying the habits of people who live until their 90s since 2003. There’s a paltry amount of research on the oldest-old group, defined as 85 and older by the Social Security Administration, and Kawas wanted to delve into the lifestyle habits of those who live past 90. She began asking about dietary habits, medical history and daily activities via survey, wondering if such data could help identify trends among these who lived longest. Ultimately she gathered information on the habits of 1,700 people between the ages of 90-99.

At the AAAS meeting last week, Kawas reported some results. According to the research, drinking two glasses of beer or wine every day was linked to decreasing risk of dying prematurely by 18 percent, The Independent reported.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas said at the conference, according to The Independent.

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The results do not show causation only an unexplained link between drinking and longevity. More information is needed about how the study was conducted before treating wine as the drink at the fountain of youth.

In general, research on alcohol has show mixed results. A recent study published in Scientific Reports showed that drinking might help clear toxins from the brain. The study was conducted on mice, who were given the human equivalent of two and a half alcoholic beverages.

Dr. Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center told Newsweek at the time that alcohol did have real health benefits. “Except for a few types of cancer, including unfortunately breast cancer, alcohol is good for almost everything,” Nedergaard said.

But a growing amount of research indicates that the benefits might not outweigh the risks. In November 2017, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued a statement warning that any drinking, including light alcohol consumption, increased the chances of developing breast, colon, esophageal, larynx and oral cancers. And in January, researchers from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, found that alcohol caused irreversible DNA damage in the stem cells of animals. Their discovery was published in the journal Nature.

The latest findings are encouraging, and tempting to place alongside reports from centenarians who credit whiskey as an elixir for long life. But it's probably best not to treat alcohol as a prescription for longevity just yet.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a proud advocate of a world-class, fare-free public transport system for Scotland.

Transport has undergone enormous changes in recent decades, both in Scotland and across the world. Some have been cyclical: in Scotland’s capital, trams were built, dismantled, and then reintroduced. In other areas, we have seen consistent trends like the steady deregulation and privatization of services, which has left Edinburgh as the sole city in Scotland with a municipal bus operator.

Rail fares across the UK have soared in comparison to those of our European neighbours, and Scottish transport contracts go out to tender in a farcical franchise system whereby public sector companies in other countries can bid for control while those in Scotland are effectively barred.

Scotland, the country which gave the world the pedal bicycle and the pneumatic tyre, now has a public transport network which is broadly unfit for purpose.

Massive changes have to be made to ensure that our public transport network is not only of a standard befitting the people of Scotland, but one that is adapted to our environmental and economic needs – challenging climate change while connecting communities and creating jobs through enhanced mobility.

The Scottish Socialist Party is brave enough to identify these changes. We call unashamedly for the integration of services – whether bus, rail, ferry, underground or tram – under publicly-owned and democratically-run operators.

But the bravest step we can take as a nation to totally transform the way we travel is to support the international movement for free public transport and become pioneers of true freedom of movement for working class people.

There is a strong economic, social, and environmental case for adopting this policy throughout the country. There is also precedent from successful fare-free public transport schemes in parts of France, Germany, Belgium, and Estonia as well as far-flung cities in China and the United States. [Ed.: see wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_public_transport, and FreeTransitToronto.org.] We have evidence of the policy’s affordability and benefit.

I would put to sceptics that the prospect of free healthcare was once unthinkable. With the creation of NHS Scotland in 1948, hundreds of thousands of people gained access to essential medical care for the first time; the positive impact on Scottish society has been immense. The threat of privatization and marketization is a terrifying prospect for many.

In the same spirit that the NHS was created over half a century ago, we can come together to build a public transport system that works for everyone. We can tackle poverty and social exclusion by extending access across urban and rural Scotland; this will be a financial relief for workers, parents and carers on low incomes, and make it even easier for families to switch from road trips to more eco-friendly bus rides and train journeys.

Building free transport links between rural communities even brings forward the possibility of economic regeneration in the Highlands, the Scottish Borders, and rural Fife, where greater interconnectivity and public investment could instigate growth and begin to reverse the exodus of young people from small towns and villages.

Free transport is neither easy nor cheap, nor can it alone transform Scotland. However, as part of a comprehensive socialist strategy, it can radically change the conditions of Scottish workers and help realise the full potential of totally under-utilized modes of transport.

The SSP has a good track record of winning others to our ideas. We championed free prescriptions in Holyrood and led the broad-based campaign to tackle poverty through the provision free school meals. We are committed supporters of universalism and pioneered many policies which were later taken up by the mainstream parties.Ambition and Vision

Free transport is yet another distinctive SSP policy with ambition, vision and a firm footing in the needs and aspirations of Scotland. It is a policy whose implementation is not only possible, but increasingly necessary – addressing the pressing ecological crisis facing the world as well as the acute issues of poverty and exclusion at home.

These are among the reasons why free transport proposals are becoming more and more popular across Europe. Many in Scotland point to more affordable and efficient public transport systems in countries like Germany to highlight the shortcomings of our own – but to seek merely to emulate them is to limit our ambition, as proven by the spirited HVV umsonst! campaigners now pushing to scrap fares in Germany’s second-largest city.

In Sweden, anarchist initiative Planka.nu takes a particularly brazen approach to free transport campaigning by encouraging members of the public to leap ticket barriers, while operating a shared pool of funds to pay off any subsequent fines for its members.

Even in Scotland, understanding and appetite for the policy is slowly building. Scottish Green activists came close to persuading the rest of their party to back the progressive policy when it was revisited at their 2014 party conference.

It is often easier in politics to identify problems than solutions. For the SSP, free transport is a valuable idea that carries great potential as an innovative solution to an intersection of problems. For this reason, it is a policy that socialists will develop and promote further in the run-up to next year’s Scottish Parliament election. •

Connor Beaton is the branch organizer of Dundee Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). He serves on the SSP’s Executive Committee.Nine Points Arguing the Case for Free Public Transport

Free fares would be the biggest single pro-environment policy enacted by any national government anywhere on the planet, dramatically slashing car use and CO2 emissions. Free fares would be the biggest anti-poverty, pro-social inclusion policy enacted in Scotland, or anywhere else in the UK. It is mainly people on low incomes who rely on public transport Free fares would cut the number of road accidents, reducing human suffering and relieving pressure on the NHS and the emergency services. The Scottish Executive estimates that road accidents cost £1.4-billion a year to the Scottish economy. (On an average day in Scotland there is one fatal road accident; another 8-10 involving serious injury; and 250-300 minor accidents. The vast majority involve cars.) Free fares would be help to reduce the levels of asthma and other respiratory illnesses, which have risen steeply in line with the expansion of road traffic Free fares would potentially increase the spending power of over a million workers by between £40 and £100 a month, boosting the overall economy. Free fares would increase business efficiency and productivity: the CBI estimates that traffic congestion costs business across Britain between £15 and £20-billion a year. Free fares would be a major tourist attraction, bringing hundreds of millions of pounds into the Scottish economy every year from increased visitor numbers. An increase in tourism of just 20 per cent would bring an extra £1-billion into the Scottish economy. Free fares would attract worldwide support, especially from the global environmental movement, and would bring pressure to bear on governments throughout Europe and the wider world to adopt a similar policy. Free fares would reduce Scotland’s reliance on depleting oil reserves; 67 per cent of all oil produced globally is used for transport.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

In the early 1980s, the Greater London Council under Ken Livingston slashed fares and began to move towards free public transport. The policy was backed by 71 per cent of Londoners, but was destroyed by the Thatcher government and the Law Lords, backed by the car, haulage and oil industries.

Within a year, ticket prices in London had doubled, car journeys had rocketed and there was an extra 6000 accidents on the city’s roads. A similar policy in South Yorkshire under David Blunkett was similarly torpedoed.

That was before global warming and the dangers of greenhouse gases became widely accepted by scientists. Twenty years on, our towns and cities are heading towards permanent gridlock and scientists are pressing the panic buttons. And the idea of free public transport is starting to make a comeback.

In the Belgian city of Hasselt, which covers an area double the size of Dundee, congestion was eliminated in the late 1980s after the introduction of a totally free public transport system. Within a year, bus passenger journeys rose by 870 per cent and have now increased by over 1000 per cent. In dismal contrast, the Scottish Executive has set a target for an annual increase of one per cent in bus journeys and two per cent in rail journeys.

The Danish government has commissioned a research group to examine the feasibility of a free public transport system (Copenhagen Post November 22, 2006).

The Melbourne Age newspaper, edited by Andrew Jaspan (a former editor of the Sunday Herald, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday) has called for state-wide free bus travel in Victoria (“A radical idea,” The Age, May 5, 2006).

Matthew Parrish, a Tory MP under Margaret Thatcher, who played a key role in destroying South Yorkshire’s cheap fares policy, now admits he was wrong and has called for London-wide free bus travel: “I was wrong. I have changed my mind… Never mind the ideology, it just makes sense.” (“It’s big, it’s red, and it’s free – and it will save London,” The Times, May 8, 2003).

Visit Scotland (formerly the Scottish Tourist Board) recently published a report which set out the policy implications of global warming by 2015: “In order to reduce dependency upon the car, we will see a number of measures to move people onto public transport. These will include free public transport for all in Scotland, whether this is buses or trains”. (Visit Scotland report: Tomorrow’s World, May 2006). •Funding Free Public Transport

This article is a brief summary of the startup and running costs, of implementing the Scottish Socialist Party’s flagship free public transport policy.Cost of Public Ownership

The Glasgow Underground and Lothian Buses are already in the public sector, though they would need to be re-organized.

The three major targets for public ownership would be First Bus, Stagecoach and ScotRail. This would bring the main transport providers into social ownership.

A big chunk of the transport infrastructure is already publicly-owned and funded, including bus stations, bus shelters, railway stations and the rail track.

However, the buses run by First and Stagecoach would have to be purchased and the workforce transferred to Scotland’s local authorities.

As a rough gauge, the publicly-owned Scottish bus industry was sold in the mid-1990s for just over £200-million (the Scottish Bus Group for £96-million and Strathclyde Buses for £110-million).

Taking into account inflation, investment in buses etc, it would be reasonable to estimate that the cost of bringing the major bus companies into public ownership would be around £300-million (it could be anticipated that bus reregulation would lead to a fall in the value and profitability of the private bus companies).

The ScotRail franchise is due for implicit renewal in 2020. As representatives of the rail unions pointed at the recent Scottish Labour conference, ScotRail could be brought back into the public sector at zero cost. The Scottish Government already subsidises ScotRail to the tune of £200-million a year, even although the franchise is now a profitable concern.Cost of Expansion to Cope with Increased Demand

Although extra services would be required, this would not be a straightforward equation in line with extra passenger numbers, because many buses and trains run with spare capacity, especially during off peak hours.

There is also substantial duplication and inefficiency arising from bus deregulation; a regulated, planned and integrated transport system would make more effective use of existing resources.

Nonetheless, in order to move vast numbers out of their cars and onto buses, trains and ferries, it will be necessary to accompany a free fares policy with a sizeable expansion of transport provision, especially in rural areas and in cities during peak hours.

It is impossible at this stage to quantify how much that would require, but as a starting point, we would suggest making available an extra £200-million for capital spending (on top of the costs of establishing a publicly-owned and integrated transport system).

An increase in staffing of 50 per cent (eg bus drivers, railworkers etc ) would cost around £250-million a year.

Total estimated costs (on top of existing public transport budget):

TOTAL CAPITAL COSTS – £500-millionANNUAL RUNNING COSTS – £800-million

(The running cost takes into account savings of over £50-million a year profit from FirstBus, Stagecoach and ScotRail)Projected Savings

Road accident reduction.The Scottish Government estimate the annual costs of road accidents in Scotland at £1.4-billion (2003). By slashing road traffic, the toll of death, injury and damage could be reduced substantially, with financial savings to the NHS, business and insurance companies of hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

Traffic congestion reduction.The business organization, the CBI, estimates that across the UK traffic congestion costs £15 to 20-billion a year. Even allowing for Scotland’s less densely concentrated population, it is likely that free fares would save business up to £1-billion a year.

Road maintenance savings.In 2007-2008, the Scottish Government will spend almost £900-million on motorways and trunk roads, including maintenance, capital projects and depreciation. Local authorities will spend another £300-million on local road maintenance. There is on top of that a backlog of £1.6-billion of local road repairs outstanding. A substantial reduction in road traffic could save hundreds of millions of pounds annually in road maintenance and repair.

TOTAL SAVINGS:It is likely that an ambitious free transport policy backed up by expansion of services could generate savings to the public sector from roads maintenance and the NHS of anything between £300-million and £500-million.

By reducing congestion and road accidents, it could also save business up to £1-billion, based on the CBI’s own figures. That means a total saving to the Scottish economy of between of up to £1.5-billion annually.

It could also generate further income from extra tourism, and from the economic boost that would be achieved by increasing the spending power of millions of workers.

While substantial sources of funding would be required to establish and run an expanded, integrated, free public transport system it would, in overall terms, be to the advantage rather than to the detriment of the Scottish economy.Sources of funding

Under Devolution

Even within the constraints imposed by devolution, there are various ways of funding a free public transport system.

Capital costs can be raised by cancelling, scaling down or postponing at least some of the highly expensive transport projects promoted by the Scottish Government, including the high speed rail link between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament can also transfer funding from the roads budget to the public transport budget.

Holyrood also has powers over the basic rate of income tax of up to three pence in the pound.

Because most of a new public transport system would come under the control of local authorities (and groups of local authorities), any funding for public transport would be designated a supplementary local tax, and therefore would fall within the powers devolved to Holyrood. This provides Holyrood with a range of fund-raising options.

Possible funding options

Under an income-based local tax, such as the SSP’s proposed Scottish Service Tax, bands could be adjusted accordingly to raise the extra money in a progressive fashion with the rich paying more and the poor paying less. The parliament has tax-varying power of up to 3 pence on basic rate income tax. A one per cent increase in income tax would generate at least £300-million a year. By imposing a supplementary local transport tax of three pence for those earning over £30,000 a year, an additional £300-million would be raised. A further £300-million could be raised by increasing the uniform business rate. An alternative and straightforward way of financing free public transport would be to levy a ‘transport payroll tax’ on all businesses with more than 10 employees. Such a tax is used widely in France to fund public transport. The Paris Metro, rail and bus system, for example is largely funded through a payroll tax of 2.2 per cent, which generates well over two billion euros a year. The tax is set as a percentage of the total wage bill; and is paid by the employer. To raise around £800-million, Scotland would need to set the tax at around 2.5 per cent, applicable to all companies in the private sector with ten employees or more. This transport payroll tax could be offset against Corporation Tax, which is paid to the UK exchequer, effectively transferring up to 30 per cent of the costs to Westminter (ie 200-240-million). Revenue could also be raised by imposing a special tax on HGV lorries towards the costs of road repairs and maintenance. The average juggernaut inflicts 50,000 times the road damage caused by a car. This HGV mileage tax would be based on annual mileage as registered on tacographs and would offset the roads budget, allowing tens of millions to be reallocated towards the cost of an expanded free public transport system.

Under IndependenceWithin an independent Scotland, the funding of a free transport initiative would be straightforward.

There would be a range of options available, including oil revenues (the SSP supports extra taxation on oil profits and, ultimately, public ownership of the oil industry).

Hundreds of millions could also be generated through higher corporate taxation and/or a rise in the top rate of income tax.

And, by reducing per capita Scottish defence spending to around the level of the Republic of Ireland, an additional £2-billion would be available for public services and wealth redistribution (Scotland’s share of the bloated UK defence budget is around £3-billion; the Republic of Ireland, which has population of four million, spends just £700-million on defence). •

These articles first published on the scottishsocialistparty.org website.

Minnesota Judge Jeffrey Remick set out the terms agreed under plea bargaining on Wednesday. Perez will:

Serve a 180-day jail term. This will be an alternating 10 days in jail and 10 days out for the first six months, amounting to 90 days behind bars. The remaining 90 days can be served in home confinement. The jail time can be served in South Dakota, where she now lives

Serve 10 years of supervised probation

Be banned for life from owning firearms

Make no financial gain from the case

The sentencing is below state guidelines but Norman County Attorney James Brue said "the reality [is] that this foolish stunt was dreamed up, planned and executed by Pedro Ruiz, and the defendant wrongfully and tragically relied on his assurances that the stunt was safe".

What did the couple want to achieve?

Perez and Ruiz had been documenting their everyday lives in Halstad, Minnesota, by posting videos of their pranks to a YouTube channel in a quest for internet fame.

They had filmed some minor pranks, which seemed relatively harmless.

She told police the stunt had been Ruiz's idea, and that he had to convince her to do it

And there was little indication of how far they were prepared to go in order to become online celebrities until the fatal stunt on 26 June 2017.

On that day Perez fired a powerful Desert Eagle handgun from close range, as Ruiz held an encyclopaedia in front of his chest.

He had experimented previously and thought the thick book would protect him, but the couple's three-year-old child and nearly 30 onlookers watched as she fired a fatal bullet.

Perez called 911 to report she had accidentally shot her boyfriend.

Ruiz was pronounced dead at the scene at their home.

Perez was pregnant with their second child at the time of the shooting.

Sticking a steel plate into the boot wouldn't have been a bad idea. Or maybe TESTING the idea first? Shoot through the boot into a straw bale. If it goes through the boot, it's probably not a good idea to substitute yourself for the straw bale.

That's why these are Darwin Awards. People who pull this shit are just plain stupid. Unfortunately, apparently this fellow reproduced before he went extinct, so those genes are going to persist into the next generation.

0:47What we know about the pedestrian bridge collapse in South FloridaEmbedShare

A pedestrian bridge still under construction collapsed onto moving traffic in the Miami area on March 15. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

MIAMI — A pedestrian bridge hailed for a novel construction method collapsed Thursday over a busy road west of Miami, killing four people, crushing eight vehicles and leaving rescue workers racing to free victims from chunks of concrete and snapped metal.

The bridge was designed to connect the sprawling campus of Florida International University with the nearby city of Sweetwater, and to make it safer for students to cross a frenetic roadway.

Kendall Regional Medical Center physicians Orlando Morejon and Marcela Ramirez said 10 victims had been treated at the hospital. Two were in critical condition.

“Just last week we were celebrating the expanse being completed and now we are here dealing with a tragedy,” Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said at a news conference Thursday. The bridge, which was installed over the weekend and remained under construction, was not yet open to pedestrians.

President Trump responded to the collapse Thursday evening with prayers.

The bridge, which weighs more than 950 tons, collapsed about 1:30 p.m. “I have no idea what lies underneath, in the rubble,” said Lt. Alex Camacho of the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Several emergency agencies are responding and the situation is evolving, according to Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Juan Perez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, said that a number of families would face “a sad outcome” and that a homicide unit had begun investigating. He declined to discuss whether stress tests had been conducted on the bridge. “It will be days before we have answers,” he said. “This will be an intensive investigation. Right now, we are still in search-and-rescue mode.”

One of the two patients in critical condition at Kendall Regional Medical Center was a man in his 30s who went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, doctors said, but was resuscitated in the emergency room.

The other eight patients at the hospital suffered cuts, bruises, lacerations and fractures, the doctors said.

Southwest Eighth Street is closed in both directions as emergency crews work at the scene, Camacho said.

On Thursday evening, Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference in Washington that a team was headed immediately to Miami for the investigation. Asked if the agency knew of deficiencies with this type of bridge, he said he did not know of any, but that if investigators determined there were problems they have the ability to issue urgent recommendations.

He said the agency had been told construction workers were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. “There’a lot we don’t know,” he said, and a lot they intend to find out. “We will be there tonight and we will start talking to people tonight.”

The university’s president, Mark Rosenberg, sent a statement to the campus community. “I am heartbroken at the news of the collapse of the pedestrian bridge on 8th Street and the resulting devastation. We send our deepest condolences to the victims and their families.

“We are working with the appropriate agencies to assist in rescue efforts. As soon as we have further information, we will share it with you. Please keep the victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers.”2:27Pedestrian bridge collapses at Florida International UniversityEmbedShare

Emergency crews responded March 15 to the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in the Miami area. (Reuters)

A news release from Florida International University on Saturday had touted the bridge’s “first-of-its kind” construction method, and hailed the permanent installation of the bridge’s main span. It stretched 174 feet and weighed 960 tons, according to the release, and was built using what are called “Accelerated Bridge Construction” methods being worked on at the university.

When the bridge was installed, crews using an automated process lifted the span from its supports, turned it 90 degrees across eight lanes and lowered it in place, the release said. The university said it was the largest pedestrian bridge moved by that method, known as Self-Propelled Modular Transportation, in U.S. history.

“This project is an outstanding example of the ABC method,” said Atorod Azizinamini, chairman of FIU’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, in the release. “Building the major element of the bridge — its main span superstructure — outside of the traveled way and away from busy Eighth Street is a milestone.”

Last year, the Miami Herald reported that an FIU student was killed while crossing Southwest Eighth Street.

The university had announced Wednesday it would begin issuing fines as part of a pedestrian safety campaign to help protect students walking to campus from Sweetwater and nearby Westchester. The new bridge was scheduled to be completed in early 2019.

The main builder, Munilla Construction Management (MCM), is a major South Florida construction firm that has been hired to rebuild expressways, update part of Miami International Airport, and construct a new test track for a Miami metro rail.

Increasingly, MCM has also successfully bid on federal contracts, winning almost $130 million in work since 2013. The largest contract is for building a school at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station.

MCM is a major contributor to politicians in Miami-Dade County and has been involved in dozens of lawsuits over the last decade, but often for much smaller issues. This month, the firm was sued over $15,000 in damages when a “makeshift bridge” collapsed under the weight of a security worker using it to access a restroom at Miami airport. The man suffered injuries to his elbow, shoulder and wrist, according to court records.

MCM has up-to-date business licenses and no recent code-enforcement violations reported to state authorities. Recent inspection reports for the site of Thursday’s collapse were not immediately available.

In a statement on its Facebook page, MCM said: “Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. The new UniversityCity Bridge, which was under construction, experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life. MCM is a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way.”

FIGG Engineering released a statement Thursday afternoon: “We are stunned by today’s tragic collapse of a pedestrian bridge that was under construction over Southwest Eighth Street in Miami. Our deepest sympathies are with all those affected by this accident. We will fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why. In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before. Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved.”

Asked if the construction methods might have factored into the collapse, Ron Sachs, a spokesman for FIGG Engineering, said he could not provide any details on the collapse beyond a statement issued by the company.

“They’re in a fact-finding mode” along with authorities, he said of the company. “They’re stunned and certainly in mourning.”

Sachs said he believed there would be a comprehensive investigation involving authorities, including the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“We’re going to cooperate with any and all of those,” he said.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) had touted the bridge as a “creative solution” for challenges to the area’s transportation network in the FIU news release over the weekend. On Thursday, a statement issued through his office reflected the sudden turn of events.

“I am shocked and horrified by the FIU Pedestrian Bridge collapse. I am praying for the victims and families of this tragedy,” he said. “As the NTSB has announced they will be conducting an investigation, I will fully review their findings so we can address how this happened and how to prevent it from ever happening again.”

Experts say the Accelerated Bridge Construction method involves an integrated system of pieces designed to stand as a complete structure, but that have to be supported during construction.

Amjad Aref, a researcher at the University at Buffalo’s Institute of Bridge Engineering, said failures can be catastrophic.

“The loss of stability is a sudden thing, it doesn’t give a warning,” said Aref, whose work involves designing Accelerated Bridge Construction projects.

Aref said the construction method has become popular over the past decade. He would not speculate about the cause of the collapse. In general he said, the process works this way:

“You bring three pieces, three blocks, each block is really strong and [does] their job but if they are not connected properly, they might not stand,” he said. “The idea is in every design you want to take the load from the superstructure, the bridge surface, all the way to the ground safely.

A collapse, he said, would indicate “the system was not completely connected or supported.”

In “any construction when you feel the structure is not completely [finished] you shore it, you put support some cables, some cables, whatever supports it,” he said.

He said Self-Propelled Modular Transportation, the method of installing the bridge section, is common in Europe. The mechanism would typically involve loading the span onto wheeled heavy machinery that places the main span between the supports, turns and hydraulically lifts it into place.

The bridge was funded through a federal TIGER grant, according to the university, a recession-era program created under the Obama administration that pays for road, rail and other projects.

The role of FIU’s Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center in its construction was unclear. The lab says on its website that it received federal funding in September 2013 after the U.S. Department of Transportation recognized a joint funding proposal submitted by FIU, Iowa State University and the University of Nevada at Reno. The funding enabled the schools to “dive further into their mission of” researching Accelerated Bridge construction, the site says. The center received a second round of U.S. DOT funding in December 2016, the side says.

The center lays out its mission on the site:

“The mission of the ABC-UTC is to reduce the societal costs of bridge construction by reducing the duration of work zones, focusing special attention on preservation, service life, construction costs, education of the profession, and development of a next-generation workforce fully equipped with ABC knowledge,” it says.

Calls to a university number and an email to Azizinamini, director of the bridge center, were not returned on Thursday.

Alexander Concha, 36, and Ivy Polanco, 23, were about to have lunch at Panther’s Boulevard Cafe, about a block away from the bridge. Suddenly, they heard wailing sirens and helicopters buzzing overhead. “Our first reaction was, we hope it’s not the bridge,” Concha said. “On the side where it collapsed, it didn’t seem very secure. It seemed very unsafe.”

This photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows a helicopter hovering over steep coastal cliffs Tuesday, March 27, 2018, near Mendocino, Calif., where a vehicle, visible at lower right, plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along Highway 1, killing all five passengers. The California Highway Patrol identified the victims Tuesday as two women from West Linn, Ore., and three children. (California Highway Patrol via AP)

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A family that gained attention for an emotional photograph of an African-American boy hugging a white police officer at a 2014 protest was killed when their SUV plunged off a scenic California highway, authorities said Wednesday as they asked for help figuring out what happened.

"We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there," Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said, appealing for tips to retrace where the siblings and two parents had been before the vehicle was found Monday in rocky ocean. "We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy."

Some friends described married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart as loving parents who took their adopted kids to Bernie Sanders rallies, while some neighbors said they called child welfare officials in their rural Washington state community over concerns about possible abuse or had noticed red flags.

The California Highway Patrol has not determined why the vehicle went off an ocean overlook on a rugged part of coastline. A specialized team of accident investigators was trying to figure that out, Allman said.

"There were no skid marks, there were no brake marks" at the turnout on the Pacific Coast Highway where the vehicle went over, the sheriff said. Investigators have no reason to believe the crash was intentional, he said.

The 100-foot (31-meter) drop killed the women, both 39, and their children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; and Abigail Hart, 14. Hannah Hart, 16; Devonte Hart, 15; and Sierra Hart, 12, have not been found.

The Harts lived in Woodland, Washington, a small city outside Portland, Oregon, and had a recent visit from Child Protective Services, Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Brent Waddell told The Associated Press.

He said the sheriff's office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence. It appeared the family planned a short trip because they left behind a pet, chickens and most of their belongings.

Next-door neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb said they called child services Friday because they were concerned that Devonte Hart, who hugged the officer at the protest, was going hungry. They said he had been coming over to their house too often in the past week asking for food.

The DeKalbs also recounted that three months after the family moved into the home on 2 acres with a fenced pasture in May 2017, one of the girls rang their doorbell at 1:30 a.m.

She "was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her," Bruce DeKalb said. "She said that they were abusing her. It haunted my wife since that day."

In 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota. Her plea led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child, online court records say.

Bill Groener, 67, was a next-door neighbor of the family when they lived in West Linn, Oregon, and said the kids were home-schooled.

"They stayed indoors most of the time, even in really nice weather," Groener said.

He said the family didn't eat sugar, raised their own vegetables, had animals and went on camping trips.

"There was enough positive there to kind of counteract the feeling that something maybe wasn't quite right," Groener said.

He said they were neighbors for about two years and that "privacy was a big thing for them."

The family got attention after Devonte Hart was photographed during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri.

The boy, holding a "Free Hugs" sign, stood crying. A Portland officer saw his sign and asked if he could have a hug, and an emotional Hart embraced him in a picture that was widely shared.

At the time, Jennifer Hart wrote on social media: "My son has a heart of gold, compassion beyond anything I've ever experienced, yet struggles with living fearlessly when it comes to the police. ... He wonders if someday when he no longer wears a 'Free Hugs' sign around his neck, when he's a full-grown black male, if his life will be in danger for simply being."

The family traveled to many festivals throughout the area — including events for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — and were known for wearing matching T-shirts.

Zippy Lomax, a Portland photographer who knew the Harts, told the Oregonian/Oregonlive.com that the reaction to the 2014 photo overwhelmed them, with negative attention focused on the multiracial family with lesbian parents.

"They kind of closed off for a while, honestly," Lomax told the newspaper. But she added that "Jen and Sarah were the kind of parents this world desperately needs."

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This story has been corrected to reflect the accurate spelling of Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman's last name.

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James reported from Woodland, Washington. AP reporter Steven Dubois in Portland, Oregon, and Phuong Le in Seattle also contributed.

Nobody answered the door when a child-welfare worker went to the Washington state home of the big, free-spirited Hart family to investigate a neighbor's complaint that the youngsters were going hungry.

Three days later, the Harts' crumpled SUV was found at the bottom of a 100-foot seaside cliff in Northern California, all eight family members presumed dead in a mysterious wreck now under investigation. Five bodies have been recovered, but three children are still missing.

"There are a lot of unknowns on this," Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said. "Several of the questions that have been asked today will never be answered."Watch NowVIDEO: Twin accused of murdering her sister in Hawaii appears in courtTwin accused of murdering her sister in Hawaii appears in courtMinnesota waterfall freezes over as temperatures plunge

Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the crash and said there is no reason so far to believe it was intentional. But they also said there were no skid marks or signs the driver braked as the GMC Yukon crossed a flat dirt pull-off area, about 75 feet wide, and went over the edge of the Pacific Coast Highway.

The case has thrown a spotlight on at least one previous run-in with the law by the Harts, along with neighbors' repeated concerns about the way the home-schooled youngsters were being treated.

Some family friends, though, say that doesn't track with their knowledge of the parents, Sarah and Jennifer Hart, as a loving couple who promoted social justice and exposed their "remarkable" children to art, music and nature.

The brood was known as the Hart Tribe, a multiracial family of two women and six adopted children who grew their own food, took spontaneous road trips to camp and hike, and traveled to festivals and other events, offering free hugs and promoting unity.

One of the children, Devonte Hart, drew national attention after the black youngster was photographed in tears, hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over the deadly police shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Devonte was holding a "Free Hugs" sign.

But well before the wreck, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Douglas County, Minnesota, telling authorities "she let her anger get out of control" while spanking her 6-year-old adoptive daughter, court records show.

Then, last week, Bruce and Dana DeKalb, next-door neighbors of the Harts in Woodland, Washington, called state child protective services on Friday because Devonte, now 15, had been coming over to their house almost every day for a week, asking for food.

Dana DeKalb said Devonte told her his parents were "punishing them by withholding food." The boy asked her to leave food in a box by the fence for him, she said.

Social service authorities opened an investigation, and a state caseworker went to the house last Friday but didn't find anyone home, state officials said. The agency had no prior history with the family, said Norah West, a spokeswoman with the Department of Social and Health Services.

By Saturday, the family's SUV was gone from the driveway, said Bruce DeKalb.

The wreck was discovered by a passing motorist Monday afternoon. The women, both 38, were found dead inside the SUV, while three of their children — Markis Hart, 19, Jeremiah Hart, 14, and Abigail Hart, 14 — were discovered outside the vehicle.

A team on Thursday continued to search the rugged coastline for the three other children, also believed to have been in the SUV: Hannah Hart, 16, Sierra Hart, 12, and Devonte.

On Thursday, authorities in Washington state also searched the family's home for information. The Clark County Sheriff's Office said deputies were looking for bills, receipts or anything else to shed light on why the family left and other circumstances related to the trip, KGW-TV reported.

The DeKalbs also recounted that three months after the Harts moved into their house on 2 acres with a fenced pasture last May, one of the girls rang the DeKalbs' doorbell at 1:30 a.m.

She "was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her," Bruce DeKalb said. "She said that they were abusing her." The entire family came over to their house the next morning to apologize and explain it was a bad week, Dana DeKalb said.

The sheriff said investigators don't know exactly when or how the SUV went over the cliff, situated alongside a spot commonly used by motorists to walk their pets. Allman appealed to anyone who might have seen the family to come forward.

Accident-reconstruction experts said investigators will look at such factors as the weather, road conditions and the possibility of brake failure, a blown tire or some other malfunction.

That model of Yukon was also presumably equipped with a black box recorder that would show its speed and use of the brakes, said Marcus Mazza, an engineer and accident-reconstruction expert with Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Robson Forensic.

Family friend Max Ribner took issue with the notion it was something other than a tragic accident. The couple adopted the six children, many of whom came from "hard backgrounds," he said. "They transformed these kids' lives."

"This is a tragic accident of a magnitude that cannot be measured," said Zippy Lomax, a photographer who knew the Harts. "They were really radiant, warm, adventurous, inspiring people. They were always on some grand adventure, and the kids were living this life that was kind of like this dream."

Image caption Two teenagers were stabbed to death in Camden on 20 February

A spike in violent crime in London saw more murders committed in the city in February and March than there were in New York, figures show.

So far in 2018, 46 people in London have been fatally stabbed, shot or injured compared to 50 in the US city.

But, while New York's rate month-on-month has decreased since January, London's is on the rise.

Ex-Met Police Ch Supt Leroy Logan says it is proof that "London's violent traits have become a virus".

Statistics from the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Metropolitan Police, reported in the Sunday Times and obtained by the BBC, highlight narrowing murder rates between the two cities which have similar population sizes.

Can Scottish police help stop violent deaths in London? Met Police chief: Social media leads children to violence Nine charts on the rise of knife crime in England and Wales

City Hall says it is "deeply concerned" by knife crime in the capital, but, along with the Met Police, insists London "remains one of the safest in the world".

By February, the NYPD's figures had dropped to 11, while London's rose to 15

In March, 22 murders were investigated in London while 21 inquiries were launched in New York

The Met said it was "concerned at the increase in murders in London".

"One murder is one too many, and we are working hard with our partners to understand the increase and what we can all do to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place," a spokesman said.

However, it is a murder rate that has left Mr Logan feeling "absolutely devastated".Image caption Former Ch Supt Leroy Logan retired from the Met Police in 2013 after 30 years' service

"I cannot understand how things have gotten out of hand," he said.

"We have seen the virus of violence spreading. It is endemic in so many different parts of societies.

"It can only be dealt with in a holistic manner, because it is so holistic in its impact.

"Police can't just arrest or stop and search their way out of this problem, it has to be done in partnership with the communities."Image copyright PAImage caption The Met has investigated 46 murders in 2018 - of which 31 have been fatal stabbings

In February, Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick visited police in Glasgow to learn about a public health approach which has seen murder rates in Scotland drop dramatically.

There are plans for Ms Dick to carry out more "fact-finding trips" in New York, as well as with the West Midlands, Durham and Avon and Somerset forces.

Meanwhile, the government has launched a £1.35m series of adverts to run across social media in a bid to deter 10 to 21-year-olds from knife crime.

When people lose 75% or more of their wealth, they are 50% more likely to die early than people whose wealth remains steady, according to new research.

In the study, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, researchers examined how losing financial stability impacts a person’s health over time. Lindsay Pool, a research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and her colleagues looked at more than 8,700 people, ages 51-61, who were participating in a national study. The researchers looked at how experiencing a “negative wealth shock”—defined as losing 75% or more of their total asset value, including things like a pension, home or business, over two years—affected a person’s mortality.

Over a 20-year follow-up period, 25% of people experienced a negative wealth shock; those men and women were at a much higher risk for death from all causes.TIME Health NewsletterGet the latest health and science news, plus: burning questions and expert tips. View SampleSign Up Now

“This is something millions of people go through,” says Pool. “It’s not really a rare event.”

The researchers also found that when they looked at a group of low-income adults, their risk of death over 20 years was 67%. Poverty is known to impact a person’s health and mortality, but the researchers were surprised that losing wealth had a similar impact on a person’s risk for early death as having no wealth to begin with. The link between financial loss and risk of death was also the same across people’s initial income levels. “This is not a study of the 1%,” says Pool.

The study did not look at how the loss of wealth directly impacted people’s health. However, “the hypothesis is that wealth shock is a stressful event, and chronic stress over the long-term can affect pretty much every organ system,” says Pool.

The findings have serious implications for many Americans who may undergo a financial crisis, and the research underscores the link between health and financial instability. “People don’t want to lose their jobs,” says Pool. It’s not on them, “but on policymakers to figure out a way to intervene.”